U.S. claims No. 2 position in global wind power

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Reports from the U.S. Energy Department find gains in the domestic wind power sector mean the country is the No. 2 in the world for wind-generated capacity.

The U.S. Energy Department and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found total installed wind power capacity in the United States is near 66 gigawatts, an 8 percent increase since last year. With nearly 5 percent of the nation relying on wind power, the government reports the United States is now second in the world in terms of total installed capacity.

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a statement the government's findings show wind power is emerging as a major component of the nation's energy mix.

"Through continued investments and the help of stable policies, we're confident that wind power will keep playing a major role in creating jobs and shaping America's clean energy future," he said in a statement.

Construction started last month on Rhode Island's Block Island offshore wind farm, which at its full 30 megawatts of capacity could meet the energy demands of 17,000 state households.

There are no offshore wind farms in commercial service in the United States, meaning sector growth came entirely from inland operations.

The technology infrastructure division of the retailer Amazon announced last month it contracted Iberdrola Renewables to help build and operate a 208 MW wind farm in North Carolina. Dubbed Amazon Wind Farm U.S. East, the facility will generate about 670,000 megawatt hours of electricity and be the state's first utility-scale wind farm once up and running by December 2016.

The Amazon subsidiary in November committed to getting 100 percent of its electricity needs from renewable resources, with the aim of meeting 40 percent of that goal by the end of 2016.

The Energy Department finds growth in the U.S. wind energy industry is supporting momentum in the national economy, supporting 73,000 jobs.

"America's distributed wind energy industry supports a growing domestic industrial base," it found. "U.S.-based small wind turbine manufacturers claimed another strong year of exports to countries across the globe, accounting for nearly 80 percent of U.S.-based manufacturers' sales."